Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have identified a new mismatch between matter and antimatter, bringing physicists closer to understanding how the universe came into existence.

Key Highlights of Findings

• Mirror Image Nature of Particles: Matter and their corresponding antimatter are generally perfect mirror images of each other, with opposite charges.

• Charge-Parity (CP) Violation: Scientists have observed charge-parity (CP) violation in baryons (a category of particles containing three quarks) ,marking the first confirmed discovery of this phenomenon in baryons.
  • Prior to this discovery, CP violation had been confirmed only in mesons.
• CP Violation Challenges Symmetry: CP violation describes the rare instances where particles and antiparticles behave differently, breaking the expected symmetry between them.
• Matter-Antimatter Imbalance: Understanding CP violation is critical because it could explain why, after the Big Bang, matter prevailed over antimatter to form the universe, although known CP-violating processes are still insufficient to fully resolve the imbalance.
• Study Focused on Lambda-b Baryons: The researchers studied the decay of lambda-b baryons into a proton, a kaon, and two pions, finding a subtle difference in decay rates compared to their antimatter counterparts.

Matter Vs Antimatter

Common Terminologies Involved

DOWNLOAD PDF